Clothespin



Nov. 11, 1941.

CLOTHESPIN R. J. WILSON 2,262,598

Filed July 3, 1941 INVENTOR IPaQUh 1. Wil-rgn ma/MM Patented Nov. 11, 1941 CLO THESPIN 7 ,Ralph J. Wilson,0leveland, Ohio, assignor ,of

one-half to Virgil Ohio i P. Cramer, East Cleveland,

Application July 3, 1941, Serial No. 401,003 7 1 Claim.

This invention is for a wire clothes pin and is an improvement upon that shown in the U. S. Letters Patent No. 260,297 of June 27, 1882, to

Johnston. I i

There have been numerous patents granted upon wire clothes pins, notably that to Johnston cited above, but none of them has appeared upon the market, so far as I am aware, and it is believed that none of the prior forms of such device has been sufiiciently practical to satisfy the public.

It is therefore the object of the present invention to devise a wire clothes pin that possesses all of the desired practical advantages including that of a comparatively low purchase price so as to meet popular favor in every respect.

One particularv object of the present invention is to devise a wire clothes pin of such form that a large number of them canbe held at one time upon the finger or thumb of the hand of the user and can be readily transferred from the finger to the thumb of the same hand or vice versa, as may be desired, atthe same time permitting the rest of the hand to be employed in the usual man.- ner, while at the same time the pins are readily available for quick use.

Another object is to so devise such a clothes pin that there will be no danger of the clothes becoming caught in any part thereof while hanging upon the clothes line.

A further object is to devise such a clothes pin of practically flat form throughout its entire extent so that they can be readily packed for shipment and a number of them can. be readily held upon the finger of the hand of the user in the manner above explained.

A still further object is to devise such a clothes pin that possesses most efficient resilience for the operation of the same in gripping and holding the clothes upon the clothes line. 1

Finally, it is the object of my invention to devise such an article that can be manufactured in a practical manner and sold at a popular price and that will last practically indefinitely.

Other objects will appear from the following description and claims when considered together with the accompanying drawing.

Fig. 1 is an elevation of my improved clothes pin;

Fig. 2 is an edge view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a View in vertical section therethrough; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the same.

It is to be understood that the present form of disclosure is merely for the purpose of illustrasides l3 and H of the tion and that there may be devised various modifications thereof without departing from the spirit of my invention as herein set forth and claimed. My present improved form of clothes pin is formed from a single piece of resilient, galvanized wire which is first curved at the top, as indicated at I, from which point thetwo halves of the wire are extended downwardlyso as to form the parallel sides 2 and 3 of p the upper loop 4, thence inwardly' in parallel relation, past each other so as to form the bottom of theloop, these two parallel bottom portions 5 and 6 of the loop4 being close to each other and located to the front andrear of" each other in the same horizontal Plane. Thence the portions of the wire are bent downwardlyfrom the lower outer corners of the loop 4 so as to form the outer sides 1 and 8 of the lobes which I are indicated by reference numeral 9, thesellobes being located immediately below the loop 4. The wire at the bottoms of the lobes are turnedfupwardly and inwardly, as indicated at Ill and H, so as to form themouth l2 to receive the .clothes line between the lobes when the clothes pin is applied to the line. Thence the wire portions are extended upwardly in close parallel relation so as to form the inner sides .l3 and M of the lobes, thence outwardly at the upper ends thereof so as to terminate in the outwardly extending portions l5 and I6 which are parallel to and spaced from the bottomportions 5 and 6 of theloop-4, the portions l5 and I6 stopping short of the outer sides 1 and 8 of the lobes. I y l 1 In placing this clothes pin upon the clothes line, it will occupy position at right angle to the length of the lineand will maintain this same position at all times during use. The clothes and clothes line will be received in the mouth 12 and, upon forcing the pin onto the line, the resilience of theloop 4 will permit the lobes 9 to separate bodily sufficiently for the clothes and line. to be received between the inner sides l3 and I4 of the lobes. Then as the pin is forced downwardly upon the line, it will be observed that the inner lobes will be caused to move individually outwardly away from each other towards the outer sides of the lobes, whereupon the clothes and line enter the substantially triangular space H between the bottom of the loop 4 and the outwardly extending end portions l5 and IS, in which position the clothes and line are maintained with what might be regarded as a three-point engagement. It is to be understood that, as the pin assumes this final position, the inner sides l3 and M of the lobes move inwardly may be expedited by passing the thumb of the hand through successive pins, that is through the loops 4, and thereby removing the same without time eration. In this way there is saved considerable time any appreciable eifort, while at the same; quite a number of them can be collected upon the one thumb before having to deposit the same preparatory to repeating the sam'e-op-' and there is realized quitea convenience This particular form of clothes pin possesses several important practical advantages, as-cOmpared withany and all other wire clothes pins that'gare knownfto me. The loop at -the'top-is ofL'suchsize and form that a large number of thesepinscan be readily placed upon the one finger, ofthe hand of the user and readily-transferred one ata .time from the outside to the insid'eof thensame hand when it is desired to uselthesame. Also, when it is desiredto remove the clothes pins fromthe clothes line, they can be'gathered upon the thumb of the users hand, as {above explained. 'I-hisimprovementis made possible by several contributing factors. 1 ,Ei'rst', the loop .4 is of substantially the same Width as the combined width of two lobes together; which means that the clothes pin is of substantially the same width throughout its entire' extent, {this shape greatly facilitating the turning of the pins about the finger or thumb of the hand soas to bring ,them from the storage position at the back of the .hand ,to the inside thereofuforapplication to the clothes line. That is,';,only the one pin that is being used atrany given moment will occupy Dosition within the hand, the other pins extending outwardly from the .back of the freely-through the loops 4. 7

,Second, the entire pin occupies substantially the same fiat plane throughout, which makes apossible the storing of a large number of these Pins upon the same fingerof the user's hand in the mannerexplained.

'Third, the curved form of the loop 4 atits top part greatly facilitates the handling of these pins in the manner above described, especially the turning of the pins about the fin eras they are brought .from the back of the hand to the inside thereofior' use, as explained.

Not only does the. enlarged loop 4 contribute to the feature justmentioned, but this particular 'form of loop with its curved topadds .also to the degreeof resilience, which is very essential in ,the spreading action of the lobes 9 in the i manner explained above. Furthermore, the relative size and shape of hand, while the finger extends the loop 4, with respect to that of the lobes 9, provides what might be regarded as a streamlined form of pin along the two sides throughout the entire length thereof, with the result that there are no recesses into which the clothes might accidentally become caught as they are whipped by the wind. As a result, my present form of pin pension of the clothes from the points of attachment to the line so as 'tohave the most eflicient exposure to the drying elements; and this same feature means also that there is less danger of the-clothes becoming torn while upon the line.

The substantially flat form of my clothes pin also facilitates the packing of the same for transportation as they will occupy minimum space per unit and there will be a minimum loss of packing space within a container. This means, or course, a saving which may be reflected in the purchase price.

' Another advantage consists in thefact thatmy clothes pins are not apt to become entangled with each other when thrown together in the same container, this by virtue of the practically flat and streamt-lined formof my present clothes pin, asabove described.

What I claim is:

A,,clothes pin comprising .a single piece of ,resilient wire bentdownwardlyinthe middle thereof so as to form a single upper resilient loop, the

two halves of the wire extending thence inwardly inopposite directions past each other in-close parallel arrangement ,to form the bottom .of ,the loop, thence ,downwardly at the two sides as virtual continuations directly from the ,outer bottom corners ,of, said ,loop ,so ,as to form the outer sides of duplicate resilientltzbes immediatelybelow said loop, thenc inwardly and up wardly. to 'formaa ,mouth at .thje'bottom ,of the clothes pin tor receiving the clothes and the clothes ilin between said lobes, thenc upwardly in close parallel relation to each other so as to form the innersides of said lobes, thence outwardly irom each other at the upper inner corners of said lobes in substantially parallel adj'ai cent spaced relation to the bottom of said loop and terminating short of the outer sidesofsaid lobes, therebyproviding a space with three-point engagement for the clothes and clothesline between the upper inner corners. of said'lobes and the bottom of said loop, said lobes being resiliently movable bodily towardsand ,from ,each other by virtue ,of ,the resilience. of said loop, and the inner portions of said lobes being-resiliently mov able individually with respect to the outer sides of said lobes by virtue of the resilience of said individual lobes,,said loop being of suitable ,dimensions to permit the same to be received jfreely upon the-finger or thumb of the hand of the user, and said p and lobes occupying substan tiallythesame singleplane throughout so as to give' -a substantially flat form to the entire clothes pin.

' RALPH J. =WILS ON.

is more apt to ensure fully free sus- 

